Abstract
This study evaluates a combination of extant and collected data that compute frequency and exposure to back injuries reported by nursing employees at a Northwest Medical Center system. A major problem of interest, and the focus of this study is whether there is objective evidence to support the commonly held belief that lifting patients is the main cause of back injuries experienced by nurses; and whether job classification and worksite unit might be confounded with back injuries reported and what demographic characteristics of the nursing personnel, e.g., sex, age, job classification, and worksite unit, might be confounded with occupations that are high at risk for back injuries. Personnel records and injury report forms provided objective data for 659 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse aides. Injury report forms providing data for 123 nursing personnel filed during the most recent consecutive twelve-month period between January 1, 1982 and April 30, 1985, were abstracted, summarized, and analyzed for number of back injuries reported using DataBase III and SPSSx computer programs on an IBM-AT system. In addition, on-site observations of patient lifts were made for ten eight-hour shifts on 15 different occasions and different worksites by a nurse-research analyst.
These observation data were compared with self-report questionnaire responses representing over 54% of the total population of nurses within this medical center system. An inverse relationship of reported numbers of patient lift per shift was found for the observation and self-report data. Of the 2.5 females to males reporting back injuries, the average age was 43 years, with greater numbers of those injuries working on surgical and medical units versus lesser numbers injured from psychiatry and long-term care units in decreasing order.
The Chi-square test was used to compute associations found not significant between reported high and low numbers of lifts and the incidence of back injuries. The t-test compared data from the observed and self-reported number of patient lifts and provided a significant (t = p <.001) difference in favor of self-report for number of lifts per eight-hour shift. Results of this study will contribute to increasing validity of lifting patients resulting in back injuries and further study of feasible and effective methods for evaluating back injuries and preventive interventions for nursing personnel who are at high risk of developing or sustaining back injury from any cause, while on the job.